Blizzard Prints Monies, buys phat lewtz

[HaemishM]

How can you really go any lower though?  WoW is polished EQ with nonstop micro-achievement (at least through the grind).  What else can you do?

Must we really challenge the MMOG industry in this way? After all, they've shown if there is one thing they can do consistently well, it's lower expectations.

[Fabricated]

How can you really go any lower though?  WoW is polished EQ with nonstop micro-achievement (at least through the grind).  What else can you do?

Must we really challenge the MMOG industry in this way? After all, they've shown if there is one thing they can do consistently well, it's lower expectations.

One could argue that maybe gamers don't really WANT anything really innovative. I mean, a lot of people in WoW are first timers to the genre, they just want a gigantic game of Diablo. They'll demand more as time goes on.

That, and limitations on computing power currently place restrictions on how unique of an experience you can make without just changing the setting or adding a slightly new wrinkle on an old formula.

[AcidCat]

One could argue that maybe gamers don't really WANT anything really innovative. I mean, a lot of people in WoW are first timers to the genre, they just want a gigantic game of Diablo. They'll demand more as time goes on.

Hmmm, yeah. I'm fairly new to the genre myself, having started with FFXI. As far as I'm concerned I demanded more and got exactly what I wanted in WoW. Well, I'd rather not wait in line to play or have my character rolled back or dropped in the middle of the ocean, but hey why nitpick?

Innovation is overrated. Just make it fun.

[Gondonaron]

See the thing is WoW has the ability to immerse you in the world where EQ 1 never did that for me. And I played it for over a year. The thing that is nice about WoW is that it is fun and doesnt feel like work. I mean in EQ you had to work your ass off in every damn thing you did, there was no real fun time it was just grind grind grind...time for epic...grind grind grind. WoW at least offers quests for every level as well as most professions.
 Furthermore if you started a game that suddenly became as big as WoW has become, you would expect to have some server issues. They even posted on there general forums that the reason for lag and server issues is b/c literally the week the game came out they had to add new servers due to load and then over the holiday the player base doubled. It is foolhardy at best to expect Blizzard to not have issues in the first 3 months of its MMO infancy. At least I have never seen "Loading Please Wait" while playing WoW and that in my book makes it all the better.

[AOFanboi]

Furthermore if you started a game that suddenly became as big as WoW has become, you would expect to have some server issues. They even posted on there general forums that the reason for lag and server issues is b/c literally the week the game came out they had to add new servers due to load and then over the holiday the player base doubled. It is foolhardy at best to expect Blizzard to not have issues in the first 3 months of its MMO infancy.

No. Even if they hadn't read this mandatory book that was released two years ago, they still cannot have failed to read all the gnashing of teeth associated with EVERY MMO LAUNCH EVAH (with one or two exceptions) about a lack of sufficient server capacity. So don't make excuses for them - Blizzard aren't new to the industry.

[jpark]

See the thing is WoW has the ability to immerse you in the world where EQ 1 never did that for me... At least I have never seen "Loading Please Wait" while playing WoW and that in my book makes it all the better.

To my surprise the absence of zone lines in WoW adds to atmosphere - I like it.  Simple changes like this have made the game more immersive for me.

While CoH had zone lines it made sense as you stepped of the subway - the experience did not give me the "it's just a game" feeling.  However, in EQ2 zone instancing got carried away - you spent more time tracking the zone instances of players than what zone they were actually in.